A Guide to Seattle’s Independent Movie Theaters (2024)

" Eclectic” is the operative word for this 48-seat, single-screen theater that opened in 2019, making it a relative newcomer to Seattle’s indie flock. Employees introduce each movie—without spoilers!—prior to the lights going down, reinforcing the Beacon’s art house bona fides. The snack bar occasionally has Cloudburst on tap.

4405 Rainier Ave S, Seattle

What’s more fun than a dental office? A movie theater! Thus decided UW literature grad Randy Finley in 1970, when he remodeled this second-story tooth tank as a single-screen movie house that later became the Grand Illusion. The theater is currently threatened by recent U District upzoning. Visit while you still can.

1403 NE 50th St, Seattle

A huge single screen housed in a 1916 Masonic temple, the Egyptian Theater sits square in Capitol Hill’s lively Pike-Pine corridor. Programming spans the cinematic gamut, from black-and-white oldies to new releases. Check out the pharaonic-inspired stage trim before the lights dim, and pay extra attention to the schedule during the film festival in mid-May.

805 E Pine St, Seattle

Do you think the Freemasons realized that so many of their lodges would one day be converted to movie theaters? Only Dan Brown knows for sure. In any case, this Regency Revival number makes for an excellent case study. Catch a screening in the top-floor “prestige room,” where velvet couches and armchairs replace the usual folding seats.

4816 Rainier Ave S, Seattle

Forget Stouffer’s TV dinners. The food at Capitol Hill’s Central Cinema would taste great even were it not lit by the ghosts of the silver screen. See the online calendar for popular MovieCat trivia nights (only at the Central) and a monthly showing of Tommy Wiseau’s cult catastrophe The Room.

1411 21st Ave, Seattle

The heart of Tacoma’s film scene—also architect of TIFF, the Tacoma International Film Festival—the nonprofit Grand sports four screens in a historic Odd Fellows hall. Highlights include the every-other-week “Weird Elephant” series on Friday and Saturday nights, featuring crowd favorites like The Shining and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Oh, and The Room. Everybody loves The Room.

606 Fawcett Ave, Tacoma

At one point the longest continually operating movie house on the West Coast—dating back to 1914—the since-refurbished Majestic Bay offers major chain films in an indie ambience. The urban triplex simply combined the names of its precursors, the Majestic and the Bay, during the remodel. Not so simple: it added two screens in the process.

2044 NW Market St, Seattle

Tacoma’s Blue Mouse celebrates a tidy 100 years of operation this year, all of them in the same suburban facade on Proctor Street. Programming veers from the new (A Haunting in Venice) to the holiday appropriate (Hocus Pocus), interspersed with lots of Rocky Horror Picture Show. The “Blue Mouse” name comes from a Paris movie lounge visited by founder John Hamrick in 1919.

2611 N Proctor St, Tacoma

How about this for cinematic history: David Lynch chose the single-screen North Bend Theatre for his national premiere of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (wildly underrated, absolutely canon). The 1941 movie house leans into cult classics and, when available, local fare such as Taylor Guterson’s 2021 Hunting Bigfoot. Programmers also screen outdoor-centric films from the Mountain Film Festival, Warren Miller, et al.

125 Bendigo Blvd N, North Bend

Rounding out the list, yet another Capitol Hill location. A few blocks east of the Egyptian, NFF is a nonprofit specializing in films that contribute to (and spur) modern conversation. It’s not uncommon to find young directors taking the stage for Q&As after a screening. NFF also partners with local organizations—Seattle Queer Film Festival, Earshot Jazz—to present community-focused material you won’t find elsewhere. The theater even hosts film workshops and rents out equipment.

1515 12th Ave, Seattle